Can the super-tough XTouch Xbot Senior be an everyday phone?

When you think of a tough and rugged phone, there are two ideas that comes to mind. The first is a big, heavy satellite-looking phone with minimal features, and the second would be a full-fledged smartphone, but covered with rugged and protective accessories. XTouch decided to bring both these ideas together, and have launched the new XTouch XBot Senior, a super-rugged phone with flagship features.

Tough looks

Right off the bat you can see that the XTouch XBot Senior is designed to take a beating, but at the same time look like something you can take to the office every day. The XTouch XBot Senior comes with a stylish rugged finish all around the phone, while making sure it’s comfortable to hold.

In the front we can see the 5.8-inch HD+ In-Cell display as well as the front camera. There are no other buttons in the front, allowing for a clean look. However, the top and bottom bezels are quite large. On the back we get some interesting design elements, which include two metal bars along the sides, separate notches for the camera and fingerprint sensor. To give a finishing touch to the design, there’s also a chrome-plated XTouch branding above the speaker grill.

Moving around the edges, the first thing you will notice is that the XTouch XBot Senior is actually quite thin for a rugged phone. Along the sides there is a different rubberised finish for a better grip. These edges also house a volume rocker and camera shortcut on the left edge, while the right edge houses the SIM card tray and power button. The bottom edge houses the type-C USB charging port. XTouch has also opted to take out the 3.5mm headphone jack, however a pair of type-C earphones are included in the box. All the ports and buttons are securely covered up as well.

Design-wise, the XTouch XBot Senior is quite an attention-grabber, and finds the perfect balance between rugged phone design and simple styling.

Premium features

Usually rugged phones lack certain features that are more common on other flagship devices. However, the case is different with the XTouch XBot Senior. With this phone, the company has decided to incorporate premium-grade features into a rugged body, while making sure it doesn’t break the bank.

For starters, the XTouch XBout Senior comes with a pretty impressive fingerprint scanner on the back. The scanner seems quite strong by itself, but it is also built a little deeper into the body of the phone as compared to other devices. This ensures that dropping the phone does not damage the scanner.

The 5.8-inch HD+ display is quite impressive as well. The Gorilla Glass 3 display does not crack under any pressure, and to top it off, XTouch also provides an additional screen protector. I wouldn’t recommend putting this extra screen protector though, especially since the touch sensitivity on the display is not that great by default and the protector can make things a little harder.

XTouch has also built in a standard 13MP camera into the XBot Senior. While the camera quality is pretty basic, and the OS quite simple, it is still a pretty nifty feature to have on a rugged phone. Here are some samples.

XTouch XBot Senior Camera Gallery

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Standard shot

Sunsets

Lowlight with flash

HDR

Close up

I have mentioned a couple times during this review that the XTouch XBot Senior is quite rugged, but exactly how tough is it? The XTouch XBot Senior is IP69-certified. This means that it is water, dust and impact-proof. It can even take extreme temperatures and high-pressure water jets with ease. During my use I did drop the phone a couple of times and accidentally spilled a glass of water on it by mistake, and the phone worked like nothing happened to it.

The XTouch XBot Senior runs on Android 8.1 Oreo, and much to my satisfaction, it did not have any skins on it, allowing for a pure Android user experience. However, for some reason it did come pre-installed with a few games, which I found strange.

Under the hood

Display: 5.8-inch HD+ Display

Processor: MTK6739V 1.5GHz

Storage: 32GB (expandable to 128GB)

RAM: 3GB

Camera: 13MP rear camera

Battery: 5,000mAh

OS: Android 8.1 Oreo

Long-lasting performance

High level performance is not exactly what the XTouch XBot Senior is marketed for. However, thanks to some pretty good hardware and optimised software, the phone ticks all the right boxes. Applications and games run smoothly, and open quite fast as well.

When talking about performance though, the highlight is battery life. XTouch has jammed a huge 5,000mAh battery into the XBot Senior. This shocked me. The phone ran for days. It has been with me for a week and I have not charged it even once, or even opened the charger yet. This is all on high use as well. So, if you are planning a long trekking trip where you don’t have access to electricity, this is definitely the phone to pack.

Verdict

If you’re a person who does adventurous activities on a regular basis, or just someone who is extremely clumsy, then the XTouch XBot Senior is the right phone for you. The phone lives up to its name of being tough and rugged, while still remaining stylish. In terms of pricing, the XTouch XBot Senior is Dh1,234, which is a pretty decent price for a phone of this strength.